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51st Christmas Bird Count

It was warm and foggy all day, but the 51st annual Christmas Bird Count held on Jan. 2 was a great success. There were 77 observers — 48 in the field divided into 11 teams, each covering a different part of the Island, and 29 more at home watching their bird feeders.

We added a species that had not been observed on any of the previous counts. Fish crow becomes the 211th species recorded on a Christmas Bird Count since 1960; a remarkable 20 fish crows were both heard and observed in a Chilmark roost that also included about 350 of the slightly larger American crows. As noted previously, this was also the first confirmed sighting of fish crows on the Island. Another highlight was the Lincoln’s sparrow, observed on our bird count for the second time since 1960. It is also the second sighting in five years. Is this the beginning of a new trend? Wild turkeys were more abundant this year than in any other year. We found 129 turkeys, while the previous highs were 90 in 2003 and 89 in 2007.

A second species, tufted titmouse, tied its previous high count of 97 on the 2008 count. Titmice are a relatively new resident on the Vineyard, and the annual counts have documented a steady population increase. This is the first count to record this species in Aquinnah, so, after 10 years this species has spread into all six Island towns.

We missed three species that we normally find. This is the first time since the annual count started in 1960 that we have not recorded a Bonaparte’s gull. Black-legged kittiwakes were last missed on the 1993 count, and were observed on all but four counts between 1979 and 2009. Northern gannets show a similar pattern and have been observed every year since 1992. Both are pelagic species that we did not see this year, probably due to the foggy weather.

We found 119 species this year, plus five other species that were not observed on count day but were observed within the count period (indicated by CP in the list below), three days before or after count day. This species total is only slightly below average for the last 20 years. Last year, in much better weather, we found only 116 species.

All told, we counted 15,926 birds, the lowest number observed since 1990, when only 14,123 birds were observed. Many of the field and feeder observers noted that there were considerably fewer birds around this year.

A comparison with last year is instructive. Most of the field teams observed considerably fewer individuals this year, which is expected since our counts of individual birds was slightly less than half of last year’s total (15,962 this year, 32,267 last year). It surprised me to see that this decrease is not due to appreciably lower numbers of land birds (rock pigeon to house sparrow), as the field teams found 5,601 land birds this year, down only slightly from 5,703 last year. I would have expected that the foggy damp weather would have kept many more songbirds out of sight, hidden within the dense shrub thickets, compared to last year when the morning was mostly sunny. We had light snow cover in both years.

This means that virtually all of the decrease in numbers of birds found is due to our finding fewer waterbirds (geese through gulls and alcids). There are two likely explanations for this. First, the foggy weather meant we could not observe seabirds that were more than a quarter of a mile from the shore. And second, we had a cold December this year and most of the south shore ponds were frozen solid for two weeks or more. Because of the extended ice cover, many of the waterbirds that are usually here in early January must have gone elsewhere; the south shore ponds are usually teaming with waterbirds but were almost completely vacant this year.

Thanks to everyone who participated this year. The results will be turned in to the National Audubon Society, which compiles the results of more than 2,000 counts across the country.

Robert Culbert compiles the annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count, leads guided birding tours and is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.